THOUSANDS OF SQUATTERS IN MANILA BLOCK MAJOR HIGHWAY

MANILA:The main highway in the Philippines capital, Manila, has been closed by thousands of squatters resisting eviction from their homes in Quezon City.
Philippines Anti Riot Police were ordered into the 340-hectare government-owned North Triangle property to clear it of 6,000 illegal settlers.

• Police say a large team of riot police and other special units are deployed in the area to protect the demolition crews and try to keep traffic flowing.
• Shantytown residents are standing with arms linked across the the road with their belongings stacked in the middle of the highway behind them.
• Traffic on the six-lane highway is backed up for several kilometres as slum dwellers fight running battles with police.
• In April, a fire raged through the shanty residential area of Quezon City, in suburban Manila, gutting hundreds of homes and displacing thousands of people.

Source:ANN

However, according to another sources, the squatters resisting eviction from a roadside shantytown have won a temporary reprieve after fighting with police and shutting the Philippine capital's main highway.
Police in Manila say several officers were injured after slum dwellers fought running battles with officers, and blocked the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue for several hours.

• By midday yesterday, the largely unprotected demolition crews had been forced to stop work after having torn down around 50 dwellings, according to reporters.
• The protest prompted a court order temporarily halting the demolition of an estimated 6,000 shanties at the 340 hectare site, according to Chito Cruz, general manager of the government's National Housing Authority.
• Senior police superintendent Benjamin Magalong said slum dwellers had been resisting an initial court order to remove the settlement known as the North Triangle.
• The government wants to redevelop the site into a business district in a joint venture with a private firm.
• Mr Cruz says there were about 6,000 families at the site, but around half have been relocated, and says he is confident the court order stopping the demolition will be lifted soon.

Source: AFP.